GET TOGETHER FOR
PERMANENT PROSPERITY.
Every man and woman engaged in
American factories, mills and mines,
whether they know English or speak
it, are naturalized or intend to be
come citizens, have a direct interest
in maintaining industrial prosperity.
When times are good, all workers
should not only be thrifty in habit and
lay up a little something for possible
rainy days, but they should do all they
can to keep the good times with us.
Simply because your language is dif
ferent from that of the foreman, over
seer, superintendent, manager or owner
of the plant in which you earn a living,
Is no excuse for misunderstanding your
own common interest in prosperity by
hating your i>artner in your own in
dustry or listening to and following
the gospel of dissension and violence
which selfish agitators so often preach.
Do not blindly follow the man who
tells you how hard your lot is. Often
he Is doing so untruthfully and for the
purpose of getting you to contribute
membership money for his own support
in idleness. Agitators get rich by prey
ing on the men in American industry,
whom tfaey urge into unlawful or harm
ful acts by misrepresenting conditions
or holding out foolish and false prom
ises of better things if they follow
their orders. You know conditions
yourself, and you know or ought to
know that the man or men whom the
agitator who pictures your employer as
on inhuman driving machine is actual
ly a partner with you, interested In
having the plant or industry successful.
The more successful your plant or
industry becomes, the more room for
you to grow with it there will be. It
shonld be your feeling, then, that you
will not do as little as you may find it
convenient to do, but to do just as
nuch as you possibly can do, and then
reasonably expect to share in the re
wards that always come to the efficient
worker.
Do not be a clock watcher in the fac
tory. Those who wait for hours to
strike or whistles to blow and "soldier"
at the bench, machine or in the office,
never get ahead in the ranks of in
dustry. They never get any more pay
because they are not worth any more,
and often are worth less than they get.
Remember the old adage that a man
who never does any more or as much
as he gets paid for, never gets paid
for any more than he does.— lndustrial
Conservation, N. Y.
PUTTING BUSINESS RIGHT
WITH THE PUBLIC.
A few years ago some big industrial
organizations and certain railroads em
ployed business tactics which, accord
ing to the popular idea, would make
the financial adventures of Pizarro.
Morgan or Captain Kidd look as ama
teurish as the verbal exploits of Bobby
Make-Beliove.
All are more or less acquainted with
the details. We will concede that there
were some glaring abuses, but the pub
lic when it came to apply a remedy ig
nored the fact that these were peculiar
to comparatively few institutions and
instead of tackling the trouble where
it lay furiously assailed everything
classifiable as business—the trust mag
nate, the independent manufacturer
ready and anxious to obey the law, the
small retailer, a law abiding and use
ful citizen—the innocent and the guilty
suffering alike. Seemingly the law was
invoked not to regulate, but to perse
cute.
There could be but one result. Busi
ness was demoralized, and the whole
country has felt the evil effects. Now
the public is beginning to realize its
error and in a rather grudging way is
making some concessions.
Business is being permitted to speak
for itself, and a movement has been in
Btituted by the leading business men
of the country under the title of the
National Industrial Conservation Move
ment for the purpose of repairing the
damage that has been done. Nothing
revolutionary is contemplated. The
plan is simply to educate the public by
taking it into the business man's confi
dence. Meetings will be held in vari
ous trade and industrial centers. All
classes of citizens will be invited. The
purpose of these meetings is to give the
public a new and correct viewpoint as
to the effects of drastic legislation and
restriction of business on the prosper
ity of the country. Every effort will
be made to give the public a clear view
of the problems and difficulties which
beset business.
Special favors are not sought through
these meetings, only fair play. It is
believed that once the citizen grasps
the situation his whole attitude toward
business will change and that he will
readily co-operate toward bringing
about better conditions.
Commercial and other civic organiza
tions and the local press are already
showing great interest in this move
ment, and it is reasonable to believe
that much good will come from it.-
Industrial Conservation, N. F.
Common Capitalists.
Every man or woman who possesses
a dollar or owns a set of tools is a
capitalist People generally make the
mistake of thinking that the only form
of capital in existence is the national
currency—the dollar, franc, ruble,
mark, lire or pound sterling. Yet every
body knows that many a successful
business man's only original capital
was brains, knowledge, ability, deter
mination or ingenuity. It would be
well for more people to recognize this
truism before abetting, either by ac
/ tion or attitude, ceaseless efforts on the
part of some political or other self
seekers, to hobble business men and in
dustrial development. Such is the spirit
of industrial patriotism which is need
ed in America. — Industrial Conserva
tion, New York.
i
f # •♦ „ - * •-. *'KTTN *V
\>Am-K UW C «*r vA rj} f ../>■'. ,
THE COMPLETE
LETTER WRITER.
The following suggestion for "The Com
plete Business Letter Writer for
1916," by A. Parker Nevin, is going
the rounds of the press.
Model No. I—Quoting Price for Good*.
Smith Manufacturing Company,
Rochester, New York.
Gentlemen:
Referring to your letter (see Postal
Regulation, p. 126, pp 44) of the 28th,
we (a corporation organized under the
laws of Ohio, certificate filed in the
office of the Secretary of New York
State, New York) beg to advise you
that we can quote the price of $2O (see
United States Revised Statutes, Laws
of 1914, sec. 18) per ton, carload lots
(see Interstate Commerce Ruling 256;
see also dicta in 128 U. S., 264; Brotcn
vs. Pennsylvania R. R. Co., 168 Pa.,
267). This quotation is special to you
(see ruling of Department of Justice
in the matter of Brown Milling Co.)
and is made subject to our right to
claim immunity (see N. Y. Penal Code,
pp 4S). If you receive a better quota
tion from any other of our competitors
you will, of course, advise us under the
authority of U. S. Revised Statutes,
pp 2247, sub. 2. We shall be glad to
fill your order (subject to rule laid
down in leading case of Jackson vs.
Cobb, 126 U. S. 232) and will ship ac
cording to your instruction (see Rule
37, New York Public Utility Commis
sion). Very truly yours,
J. P. JONES, President,
JONES MANUFACTURING Co.
Slate of Ohio, County of Fairfield, ss:
J. P. Jones, being duly sworn, deposes
and says: That he has submitted the fore
going letter to his counsel and has been
advised that it is legal. That deponent ia
not a director of any bank, trust company
or transportation company. That the
Jones Manufacturing Company has nev
er had its charter forfeited, nor has de
ponent ever been indicted by either State
or Federal Grand Jury.
P. P. WHITE, Notary Public.
ODDS AND ENDS.
The lives of practically all men famous
in the business world as shown in the
history of industry during the past
twenty-five years will prove to you the
practical value of the "stick to it" prin
ciple of life. Armour stuck to beef,
Harriman and Hill to railroads, Edison
to electricity. Carnegie and Schwab to
steel. Rockefeller to oil. Morgan to
finance, and so on without end. All
these captains of industry and thou
sands of others that might be men
tioned had the faculty of "sticking" to
a job until they made good.
"The time has come," said James W.
Wadsworth. Jr., United States Senator
elect from New York, recently, "when
business men should give heed to what
is going on in the legislative bodies of
the country. I see in the future except
this heed is given a development which
will prevent the individual from carry
ing on his business, honest though he
may be. with his own initiative and
enterprise."
Do not be a clock watcher in the
ranks of industry. Those who wait
for hours to strike or whistles to blow
and "soldier" at the bench, machine or
in the office seldom or never get very
far ahead in the ranks. They never
get any more pay because they are
not worth more and often are worth
less than they get Remember the old
adage that a man who never does any
more or as much as he gets paid for
never gets very much pay.
OVERTAXING INDUSTRY.
Taxes are not alone the burden of the
rich. They inevitably descend along
the scale and are generally shared in
some proportion by all. When exces
sive burdens of taxation emphasize the
competitive disadvantages of any com
munity for any branch or class of busi
ness that community will' invariably
suffer a decrease in the industrial de
velopment and prosperity of all within
its boundaries.
In many sections of the country re
ports show that industry is often sub
jected to continuous and unreasonable
burdens uf taxes in one form or an
other. This condition is due in part at
least to a mistaken public attitude to
ward industrial operations or a preju
diced, ignorant or indifferent opinion
on the part of public officers and politi
cians. The history of industrial com
munities where such burdens are im
posed. however, is the best evidence of
whether such a policy pays anybody.
Two manufacturers in similar lines
of business, one operating a plant in
Massachusetts and the other located in
Connecticut, were recently comparing
notes. They discovered that for every
$lOO in taxes which the Connecticut
plant pays per annum the Massachu
setts plant was paying $l,OOO, or ten
times as much. The answer to this sit
uation is that Massachusetts has been
falling behind in the percentage of
growth as an industrial state compared
with some of her neighboring commu
nities where industry is not so often
aimed at by burdensome, unnecessary
and unreasonable laws.
The following open letter by J. W.
Powell, president of the Fore River
(Mass.) Shipbuilding Corporation, ad
dressed to the employees of that com
pany in a recent issue of their "family
magazine," The Fore River Log, pre
sents In a fair way the average busi
ness man's view on excessive taxation
of industrial plants:
"What is good for Fore River is good
for Quincy, and what is good for Quin
cy is good for Fore River.
"The officers and employees of this
company and their families make up
more than a quarter of the population
of the city Their interests are the
same as the interest of Quincy and of
the Fore River Shipbuilding Corpora
tion.
"This company's business is building
ships, which brings us into competi
tion with companies building ships in
other States. Anything that Fore River
must do in this community that other
shipbuilding companies do not have to
do in their cities will, in the long run.
hurt us.
"Today there are more ships to be
built than there are yards to build
them. When the war is over there will
be more shipyards than there are
ships to build. Then the yard that
builds the cheapest will take the con
tracts. and the yard whose costs are
highest will discharge its men.
"The other big shipyards do not paj
big taxes. Some of them pay no taxes
at all. If you own a house and rent it
you add your taxes into the rent If
you rent a house you pay the taxes
when you pay your rent, so the com
pany must add its taxes when it sells a
ship.
"Such an assessment and such taxes as
have been levied against this company
this year in Quincy, which is as much
as the combined cost of its new hos
pital and club, hurt it and will hurt
you. It is not fair to increase this com
pany's assessment 00 per cent and to
increase its taxes nearly 50 per cent
this year as against a year ago.
"You know that a great part of the
company's money spent in improve
ments has been spent to Fore
River a better place to work. There
are still many departments needing
new buildings, new washrooms, new
locker rooms, and many other improve
ments to make this yard the kind of a
yard YOU and WE both want it to be.
"We expect to pay a fair tax, but
will not pay an exorbitant one. This
matter is of Interest TO YOU. Think it
over.
"(Signed) J. W. POWELL,
"President."
A Texas legislator recently offered
for enactment a bill designed to pre
vent head-on collisions between rail
road trains in his State. The main
part of the text said: "When two
trains, coming from opposite direc
tions. approach a crossing, both shall
stop, and neither shall cross until the
other has passed."
CONSERVATION TRUTHS.
The man at the bench is the co
worker of the man in the office. Let
them get together for the common
good.
Stick to ycrur job. The man who
Jumps from one job to another never
learns enough about any particular
class of work to become valuable In it
Every business has three partners.
Capital—the employer. Labor—the em
ployee. The public—the consumer. No
industry can thrive if co-operation
among the three is lacking. No busi
ness can succeed that has a dishonest
or indifferent partner. Each partner
owes a duty to the others. Get to
gether.
This town 1s your home. Help to
make it a better home by co-operat
ing with its merchants and business
men. Treat your industries fairly, and
they must be fair to you.
Consumers should realize that when
unfair legislation makes business
dance they all have to pay the fiddler.
"When you attack men who maintain
payrolls you hit the wage earner, kick
his wife and cuff his children."—Elbert
Hubbard.
FOR AMERICANS!
Manufacturing is the backbone of the
nation
man in industry helps pros
perity
"Returns in wages and profits are inu-
Al ' tual
Jnterdependence is necessary in all in
dustry
/"Capitalists include every man who has
a dollar or more
A dd your belief in the future of our
nation's wealth
"Vational strength is industrial
strength
Tndustry supports 100,000.000 persons
in the U. S.
"V'othing oppressive (o industry should
be tolerated
T)on't be fooled by agitators or by
alarmists
TTnite to make industry TOUR
cause
Qtand firm in your belief in the rights
of industry
HPreat every man you work with as a
friend
"Demember the Interests of employer
and employee are the same
Y° ur allegiance:
Ist, To America; 2nd, To Your Home;
3rd, To Your Business.
SHOPS AND PLANTS
FAVOR INDUSTRIAL
BETTERMENT WORK
Actively Aid Welfare Plans of
Every Description For '
Employees.
PHILANTHROPY NOT INTENT.
Comfort and Contentment of the
Workers Considered Paramount.
Hundreds of millions of dollars hate
been expended during the past decade
by American manufacturers for those
forms of industrial betterment, In be
half of employees, that are generally
classed as philanthropic or beyond the
mere requirements of laws and con
tracts.
Decent manufacturers —and they are
in the vast majority—as are the decent
people of other classes —are opposed to
grinding child labor, and they strive to
pay a living wage to all of their em
ployees. They go much farther than
that, as a study of American industry
will show. They devote time, money
and effort to provide every possible
supplementary means for promoting
the convenience, the comfort, the
health, contentment and happiness of
their workers and of the families of
employees. Very few manufacturers
consider such work or expenditure to
be philanthropy, but, rather, a neces
sary feature of their business. While
their motives may be as altruistic as
those of the average of mankind, they
find that it is good, from the business
point of view, to promote as far as
possible the welfare of their employees.
Industrial betterment pays.
Industrial betterment means an at
tempt to provide the best kind of work
ing and living conditions, and it im
plies the co-operative responsibility of
the wage earner and the employer in
bringing those conditions about and in
improving them from time to time. It
Is not a dole to be handed to the wage
earner, but is a token of that spirit of
mutuality which, under right condi
tions, should permeate industry.
A thorough description of industrial
Detterment activities in the United
States would require more space than
is contained in the most voluminous
encyclopaedias to be found in the li
braries. Indeed, volumes might be
written about the welfare work of a
single corporation alone —the National
Cash Register Company, for instance,
or the International Harvester Com
pany, the United States Steel Corpora
tion, Cheney Brothers, the Curtis Pub
lishing Company, the Bethlehem Steel
Company, the American Telephone and
Telegraph Company, the Eastman Ko
dak Company, any one of the leading
railroad companies, the principal banks,
Wanamaker's, or any of a host of other
concerns which has developed activities
of the sort There is hardly a concern
in the country doing business on a fair
ly extensive scale that has not initiated
some form of industrial betterment for
its employees. The honors do not go to
the larger companies exclusively either,
for many of the smaller business units
have developed this side of their ac
tivities to a remarkable extent Natu
rally it is easier for the larger corpora
tions to put highly trained specialists
in charge of the various branches of
industrial betterment work.
The fundamentals of industrial bet
terment are observed in furnishing
pleasant, sanitary, safe workiDg eondi.
tions. Educational and entertainment
features, facilities for study and recre
ation, special opportunities for the ex
ercise of thrift and provisions tending
to remove the dread of and to mitigate
the sufferings occasioned by sickness,
disability or invalidity are matters
which next receive attention. Well
lighted, well ventilated and otherwise
pleasant and safe working places, res
taurants, reading rooms and libraries,
rest rooms, emergency kits and hospi
tals. club rooms, assembly rooms, gym
nasiums, lockers and bathing facilities,
recreation grounds, bonus and profit
sharing plans, special housing accom
modations, facilities for the purchase
of homes on easy payments, discounts
in the purchase of goods, industrial
and other educational classes,
for entertainment or instruction, mov
Ing pictures, excursions, field days,
medical attendance, safety committees
for accident and fire prevention, sick
ness, disability and invalidity funds,
insurance or benefit associations and
pensions are some of the customary
features of industrial betterment work,
the variety of which has no limit.
Tens of thousands of lives are saved
each year and hundreds of thousands of
lesser accidents are prevented annually
through the accident prevention cam
paign and feature of industrial better
ment
The Eastman Kodak Company in five
years reduced the accidents in its
plants by over 75 per cent per annum
through a progressive safety campaign
The Pennsylvania Railroad in te
months decreased the serious injurie
of its 33,242 shop employees over 03 pei
rent by the installation of safety de
vires and by the constant instruction of
the workmen in exercising due caution
As a result of its safety campaign the
United States Steel Corporation reduced
serious and fatal accidents in its variou>
plants by 40 per cent since 1900. Each
year 2,300 of the men employed by tb<
corporation escape who would have beei
•njured under the previous conditions
OUR BUSINESS MEN
ASK FOB PUBLIC
GO-GPERATION
Leaders Point Qui Partnership
Between Capital and labor.
SAY INTERESTS ARE MUTUAL
Our Future Prosperity Depends on ■
Better Understanding and Moro Prac
tical Application of Get-Together
Spirit In Industry—Must Eliminate
Trouble-Brooders and Agitators.
A better public understanding and
appreciation of tbe needs and problems
of our American Industries Is conceded
! on every side to be one of tbe Impor
tant national requirements for tbe de
velopment of our future industrial
prosperity. Few people seem to un
derstand that tbe majority of our busi
ness men are fair minded, reasonable
beings, legitimately engaged in tbe de
velopment of our economic resources.
In the opinion of our business lead
ers this misunderstanding leads the
public, through the legislators. Into
thoughtless and unnecessary acts of
reprisal against all branches of Indus
try, which are often Inimical to tbe
best interests of their own community.
To cure this lamentable condition It !*
first essential that a closer degree of
co-operative action for the common
good be established between em
ployees and employers. The first step
in this direction is to eliminate the
selfish, destructive agitator. This bap
py event would greatly facilitate a
general get together spirit among em
ployers and workers.
The Work That Men Do.
The nation is confronted with mors
work than ever before—ships to build,
factories to enlarge, railways to com
plete, now foreign business to be at
tracted and help to be extended to tho
i unfortunates on the other side. There
are about3o.ooo.ooomen ait work;if they
; work ten hours a day that is 300.000,-
000 hours a da.v or 9i>.<'»00.000.000 hours
j a year. If they work eislit hours it is
t 74.850.000.000, or a difference of 18,-
! 720.000.000 hours a year. At eight
hours a day this means that about
7,400.000 more men must be employed
to do the work that could be done by
the 30,000,000. and where are they to
I come from?
During the past year there has been
a unified and standardized banking cur
rency system tried and not found
wanting. But there are yet other steps
to be taken before the ideal of eco
i nomic unit is worked out.
i There are C 62.000 stockholders of
railroads in the United States. A large
proportion of them depend en the earn
ings of the carriers for a meager in
come. Many of these stockholders
have less than $l,OOO a year Income,
and they are unable to earn more, be
ing elderly persons or women. Thou
sands of them are former employees of
the railroads who depend upon their
stock dividends to pay their rent and
their grocery bills.
Labor and Capital Are Partners.
The manufactured output of the
United States amounts to $28,000,000,-
000 in value per annum. This is three
times the amount of the yearly output
of the ranches, farms, orchards and
gardens; It is a dozen times the output
of the mines; it is larger than the com
bined manufactures of any two for
eign nations. Labor received, as Its
share of the fruits of industry, wages
amounting almost to seven billion dol
lars in the single year of 1914. Does
not this prove that the Interests of
employees are Joint with those who
employ them and that a rea! pnrtner
! ship exists?
Today there are over 100,000.000 peo
ple in the land who must be fed,
clothed, sheltered, kept warm and
many of whom travel for health, pleas
ure and business. The railway systems
are in many places overtaxed in doing
this work.
What will be the conditions when
there are 150.000.000 people to be
!served?
This means an addition of at least 50
per cent to the number of tons of
freight moved one mile and the num
ber of passengers moved one mile.
There was a total mileage of 41.988
In the bands of receivers in 1915, the
total capitalization of which was $2,-
204.000.000. In that year alone 20,143
miles of road went Into the hands of re
ceivers, and these roads had a total cap
italization of $1,070,808,C28. This com- «
pares with 4.222 miles In 1914 with a
total capitalization of $199,571,446, in
receivers' hands. This is not a healthy
condition; it is a malady that affects
directly and Indirectly every one In the
country.
Railways do not belong to a few rich
men or bankers. There are at least
1,500.000 owners of the securities of
American railways. There are 1.800,-
000 men approximately employed in
the railway service. The insurance
companies have $1,500,000,000 invested
in railway securities representing 30,-
000.000 policy holders; savings banks
have $800,000,000 Invested in which
banks there are 11.000,000 depositors.
From 1909 to 1913 the States enact
ed 60.001 and congress enacted 2.013
i new laws which involved the consid
eration of more than one-half million
legislative propositions, or an annual
production of over 12.000 new laws
to be assimilated by the business
jvorld.